"I'd love to see more information on lost Christmas specials from the
1960's and 1970's that the networks don't run anymore. Some of the ones
that I remember are:

"The
Littlest Angel - this was an adaptation of the book, broadcast on
the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" starring Johnny Whitaker of "Family Affair"
and Fred Gwynne of "The Munsters". I vaguely remember a scene where
all the angels are flying around, talking about what it's like to fly,
to the little angel that hadn't earned his wings yet.

"The
Little Drummer Boy - this was shown for years until sometime
in the mid-1980's. That was when most religious Christmas specials seemed
to disappear.

"It
was produced by Rankin-Bass, the same people who did Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer. It had the same animation style (a combination
of marionette work, traditional puppetry, and stop-motion filming.)

"Rodgers
and Hammerstein's Cinderella on NBC in 1965 - I think it was
the only Rodgers and Hammerstein production developed especially for
television. It starred Leslie Ann Warren as Cinderella. I can still
hear the songs "In My Own Little Corner" and "Ten Minutes Ago." (ORDER CINDERELLA NOW ON DVD!)

"The
House Without a Christmas Tree - starred Jason Robards as a father
who had recently lost his wife, so he didn't want a tree in the house
at Christmas - but he had a young daughter who desperately wanted one.
Late 70's vintage. They also had a similar special for Thanksgiving,
and of course, that one's not shown anymore either. I'd also love to
see the old Peanuts specials for Halloween and Thanksgiving again too.

"Year Without a Santa
Claus - I never actually saw it, but a lot of people remember it
fondly. Shirley Booth (aka 'Hazel') was the voice of Mother Nature.
It featured the Heat Miser and
Snow Miser: "I'm Mister Heat
Miser, I'm mister one hundred and one..." :-) (ORDER
YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS NOW ON DVD!)

"Now
we're stuck with dreck like The Night Before Christmas which
has the absolutely lovely message for children that it isn't Christmas
unless Santa comes and brings you lots of presents. Blech! :-(

"At
least they still show How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

- Sharon

"First
of all I am SO glad that Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie
Brown Christmas, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas are still
being enjoyed by new generations. These are classics that should not be
tampered with (in other words, don't try to make live-action movie versions
of them... whoops, too late on the Grinch!).

"This
website's story of finding "lost footage" from Rudolph was fascinating.
My sister and I planned our TV viewing around the specials. We watched
just about every Rankin-Bass special there was.

"We
really liked The Year Without a Santa Claus (the battles between
Heat Miser, Snow Miser, and their mom Mother Nature were hilarious).
I got teary eyed when the little lamb was run over by the chariot in
The Little Drummer Boy.

"I
was glad to see someone mention The Littlest Angel. I quite distinctly
remember the scene when he goes back down to Earth to get his gift for
Jesus and kisses and hugs his parents (who can't see him of course but
"feel something"). It would be nice to see this again on TV.

"I
also remember watching all those Bing Crosby Christmas shows. My mom
and dad would inevitably make a comment about having to listen to Bing's
'untalented kids' sing.

"Along
with Norelco shaver Santa Claus, who can forget the 'Give him British
Sterling' ads with the Renaissance music and the woman riding the beautiful
white horse, Kraft sponsored shows where all their commercials were
recipes ('to make that clam dip special, use Philly-brand cream cheese...'),
and the Coke 'Like to teach the world to sing' jingle."

-
Susan Rosko

Here it is - the Norelco Santa from the 1970s:

"For
all my life, I have watched the 1965 special A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS
every year at this time. There is something about this special that
I have always wondered about.

"During
the closing credits, when the Peanuts gang is singing "Hark, The Herald
Angels Sing," the song abruptly fades out before the kids finish
singing it, and the picture jump cuts to the THE END title. I understand
the reason for this is because the censors are eliminating the original
sponsor reference. I hear that, in the early broadcasts the program
was sponsored by Coca Cola. It is also my understanding that, originally,
the Peanuts gang DID sing "Hark..." all the way to the end, and that,
on screen, it said something like "Season's Greetings From your Coca
-Cola Bottler." Do
you know anything about this?"

- Chris

"Here's
the WGBH Boston Holiday Greeting
- something I always looked forward to seeing, because it was so opposite
their usual very "serious" identification. The year it was recorded was
1985. The voice is David Yves-former general manager of WGBH for many,
many years."

-
Daniel Ferriera

"Aside
from the usual classics like Rudolph and Frosty, one of
my fondest childhood Christmas memories was an animated version of A
Christmas Carol produced in 1971 that aired for a few years thereafter
and featured the voices of Alistair Sim and Michael Redgrave.

"This
was a superbly animated and very creepy version with a very unique Victorian
animation style, and I believe it won an Oscar. For years I sought it
out on VHS before happening upon it on a Christmas compilation video
(put out by Good Times) of public domain Christmas cartoons. Now it's
a staple once again of my yearly holiday viewing. It's not on DVD yet,
as far as I know, but the VHS is worth seeking out."

- Peter
McCulloch

"During
the early-sixties Christmas seasons there were two specials that used
to be shown (before Peanuts and the Grinch came along). They were done
with marionettes and were always shown back to back.

"One
was the story of the birth of Jesus and the other was The Night
Before Christmas. I looked forward to these presentations
every season. I got a bonus one year at the TWA kids Christmas party
(my dad worked for TWA) - they showed those films (on a 16mm movie projector)
for our entertainment. Does anyone else remember these programs and
are they available on video tape?"

- Ed Justice

"The
story of the birth of Jesus was called THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS
featuring the Mable Beaton Marionettes.

"In
Philadelphia, it was broadcast annually and sponsored by Bell Telephone.
As my father worked for Bell Tel, I proudly watched it every time it
was on. The local PBS station, WHYY, tracked it down years ago and broadcasts
it several times each holiday season."

I
can still vividly remember that version of Twas The Night Before
Christmas which was produced by Bell Systems, the old telephone
monopoly, starring the Mabel Beaton marionettes. I could be totally
confused but I recall it being shown at school when I was a wee lad.
Anyway, here's the film thanks to You Tube:

"One
of my favorite cartoons was titled Christmas Comes But Once A Year.
I believe it was from the Max Fleischer studio, which did Popeye. An
old man visited an orphanage who's kids had no presents. He made toys
from dishes and other housewares and a Christmas tree from umbrellas.

"Also,
the Our Gang (Little Rascals) short titled "A Tough Winter."
Not really a Christmas story but, since the Hal Roach Studios were in
LA, they produced very few snowy, winter shorts.

Fleischer
and Van Beuren cartoons portrayed the opposite of the
happy-go-lucky Disney world view. Produced for the children of the great
depression, these oddball shorts, like Jack Frost (1934), The
Shanty Where Santa Claus Lives (1933) and Christmas Comes but
Once a Year (1936), looked weirdly disturbing in the boom era of
the fifties and early-sixties when they began showing up on local children's
programs. In Fleischer toons, orphans and downtrodden ragamuffins were
always magically and morally superior to everyone else.

"My favorite Christmas
special is 1969's J.T. from the CBS Children's Hour. It's
the story about a sensitive young boy (Kevin Hooks) in a Harlem ghetto
who befriends a sickly, one-eyed cat (brilliantly written by Jane Wagner).

"I'm
sure anyone who has seen this will remember shedding a tear when J.T.'s
cat is hit by a car. CBS repeated this amazing, heartfelt drama on Christmas
mornings in the 80's--but it hasn't been seen since and is unavailable
on video."

- MQ

"I
was born in (!) 1949, and I was telling my kids about the black and
white cartoons that came on at Christmas, that I wish I could get copies
of.

"They
were cartoon-like in length, one was Frosty the Snowman (now
all these are the original black & white ones... not the new ones
in color), one was Suzy Snowflake, one was Rudolph TRNR, and MY favorite
HARDROCK, COCO, AND JOE (Santa's 3 elves). If anyone knows where
I can get a copy of these, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, I'll be forever grateful!
B&W...? My kids can't even imagine! *LOL*"

- Susan

Mitchell
Hadley tells us: "Well, as it happens, the Museum of Broadcast
Communications in Chicago has now digitally remastered them and has them available at their website (a wonderful
resource, by the way, for classic TV fans)."

"I
have my own web site called the Electric Shaver Page. With the
holidays approaching, I would like to suggest that you bring back the
beloved Norelco Santa riding on a set of floating heads by uploading a
classic Norelco electric shaver commercial featuring the stop motion animated
Norelco Santa.

"This
endearing ad campaign was created by American advertising executive
David McCall. Tragically, on April 18 of 2000, the 71 year old McCall
was killed, along with his 57 year old wife Penny, in an automobile
accident in Albania where they were helping refugees from Kosovo. As
I mentioned, he created the memorable "Norelco Santa" advertising campaign
in which a stop-motion animated Santa Claus rides on a set of Norelco
(Philishave) heads while we hear "floating heads, floating heads" to
the tune of "Jingle Bells".

"He
also created the memorable animated educational series from the 1970s
Schoolhouse Rock. We'll miss him."

-
Gary Flinn

THE 1960's NORELCO SANTA:

I wanted to
ask a question about a couple Christmas specials I can't seem to find
out much about. The first was titled 'Simple Gifts' it aired in the early
80's on PBS, was an hour long and had about 7 or 8 short stories each
done by a different animator. I have found that R.O. Blechman is given
credit on IMDB, some of the other segments were truly beautiful especially
the part named 'The Great Frost,' a few scenes from Virginia Wolf's 'Orlando.'

The segment
looked like Vogue covers from the 20's, just beautiful. Which
reminds of another special, 'The Selfish Giant,' done in a very similar
style, airing around Thanksgiving. Finally 'The Night the Animals Talked'
maybe ran a few years in the early 70's... would love any more information
on that one if it's out there.

- Thank
you so much, Kurt Walters

"I
don't know if anyone mentioned these as Christmas specials, but my faves
(aside from Charlie Brown and Rudolph) were Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol
and the Jackie Gleason Christmas Special.

"The
latter I remember only airing once or twice, unlike the others which
have been running every year since time immemorial. I remember the Jackie
Gleason special was just enchanting- the Poor Soul goes through all
these fairy tales and nursery rhymes. I
especially remember Little Bo Peep, and the lamb's tails hanging on
a clothesline. I haven't seen it in years, no one seems to broadcast
it anymore. What a shame! I loved the Jackie Gleason show as a kid,
but that special was just our favorite."

-
Marlene Blanshay

Mr.
Magoo's Christmas Carolis
one cartoon that had the quality of any Broadway show ever written. As
a matter of fact, I bet it could go direct to the "Legitimate Theater"
using the very same book and music that was used in the cartoon. The plot
and songs stand up very well.

"Still
trying to find out how to make 'Razzle-Berry Dressing,' though.

This
is a wonderful animated CBS Network Christmas Greeting from the
early seventies - do you remember it? It ran for a couple of years and
a sequel was produced in 1974. Would a network give over 60 seconds of
ad time for a holiday greeting today? I think not.

"I grew up in the fifties when most
of these shows were pioneering the way for future sitcoms.

"My favorite TV Christmas memory
was of an early "I REMEMBER MAMA" show that was on every
year. Mama and Papa explained to Dagmar, their youngest daughter,
that on Christmas Eve the animals would be able to talk. Young Dagmar
goes out on the back porch and waits all night for the animals to
talk. I don't remember any more than that, but I have been looking
for that episode on video and am unable to find it.

"Thank you for the memories of a
bygone era where family values were important and people seemed to
have more fun and time for each other."
Sincerely,
A Nostalgic TV fan,
Joanne